Things I Think
1. Words and coherent thoughts are elusive to me this week….usually I can at least find words in my incoherent state.
Here’s what’s on my mind today…
Jesus appears to have cared little about any kingdom other than His own.
He was radical and utterly counter cultural in the eyes of the political and religious leaders of the day.
He did care about the poor, the oppressed, sick, and the outcasts and human debris produced by the kingdoms He will one day crush.
I was always taught that as a “bible believer” and a “follower of Jesus” that I was to do likewise.
Now, the words of Scripture and the ways of Christ must first pass through religious, nationalistic, political, and economic filters before they can be heard or heeded…and when they have finished going through those filters they just don’t sound the same to me.
Sometimes the biggest choice you have to make is who to listen to most closely…how do we balance all these concerns and still be faithful to the King?
2. If those silly kids on the border would have said their country of origination was Israel half the American church would be picketing to let them in…
3. The Calvary Chapel Senior Pastors Conference will be live streaming today. I’m trying to care.
4. The continuing reaction to the Hobby Lobby case from my brethren on the left is extremely disconcerting to me. It seems that our national discussions have devolved into repeating half truths and demonizing the opposition as the only means of debate and the point is not to solve problems but to win the rhetoric war.
5. It would seem to me that being “pro life” would extend to children who have already been born…
6. The biggest problem we face today is that the internet has enabled an explosion of information…but it is utterly incapable of providing the wisdom to know what to do with that information. We have become a world of well informed fools.
7. I wondered why I was so depressed today, then I realized I have to go to the DMV to renew my drivers license. Mystery solved.
8. Another mystery to me is how in a country this size and this gifted that we are so bereft of true leadership…
9. Remember when people talked a lot about revival as a solution to our problems?
10. The biggest contribution I can make to others will not be my words, but my willingness to listen.
@ #7A Happy, God Blest July Birthday to Michael
#2 Yikes! you may just have given the Palestinians an idea
Thanks, Em…56 going on 130 tomorrow…
#4 – I hear nothing about Hobby Lobby. It’s like it dropped off the map. btw, does anyone hear shop at Hobby Lobby?
#5 – I am pro life = I am anti abortion – anti war – anti death penalty
#3 – I think you do care about CCSPC – you brought it up. I don’t remember pre publications of agendas or links to other denominational meetings. This must be special.
AAAH! to be 56 again. Michael, cherish your youth . 😉
MLD,
A lot of my readers care about the CCSPC.
Thus, I’m trying to as well.
It seems like all of the stuff they will live stream, you could get off the individual pastor’s website – a message he has probably delivered before at his church.
The Q&A might be interesting, but I bet they don’t take cameras into the workshops and that might be the most interesting / telling.
MLD,
You’re right…the only things I would be interested in are the Q&A’s and the workshops…which may be why they won’t stream them. 🙂
Happy Birthday!
Thanks, Jean. 🙂
#6 – The internet (along with radio, TV, newspapers, etc.) is also incapable of sifting truth from falehood for us.
MLD, I shop Hobby Lobby…I like doing crafts and quilting….love quilting. 🙂
happy day before your birthday, Michael!!! 😉
Jean, I remember thinking they were all telling us the truth…then I realized it was all just politics. right down to who’s songs they play on the radio…
Michael,
#1 —
Don’t know if you’ve heard of the Mennonite theologian, the late John Howard Yoder.
Here’s a famous book he wrote you might want to look at — you could probably get it through your library system.
“The Politics of Jesus”
http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Jesus-John-Howard-Yoder/dp/0802807348/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404762945&sr=1-1&keywords=the+politics+of+Jesus
Thanks, Dusty. 🙂
Lutheran,
It’s on my list already… 🙂
Michael, your Phoenix gravatar is not showing up on your comments.
Dusty,
I know…the back end has been hacked to smithereens again over the last couple of weeks.
They almost had me locked out again…
I”ll fix it when I get some time.
yikes!! We aren’t even doing anything to be hacked for. 🙁
OK, I am here to report on the CCSPC … at least from the outside. I had to get gas in the car and CCCM is right between my office and the Costco. The parking lot is full, and they have several white covered tent areas.
It does not look like CC pastors drive expensive cars – they looked dated and ordinary.
That’s my report. 🙂 .
MLD,
Well done. 🙂
Greg tried to head off the controversies before they start…first thing he addressed was the division in the ranks.
FWIW… it seems to me pastors should have retreats, not conferences – conferences are for organizations and pastors shouldn’t have time to run businesses…
While I detest what the government is doing to the real citizens of this country and how they are encouraging the blatant breaking of our national laws and openly encouraging the politicization of innocent children, I have no problem with the church or the people of this country helping these children. They are nothing but pawns between political entities who care nothing for them. There is nothing that says compassion must override all common sense. When foreign armies and groups are invited by our government to help people break the law, this should scare everyone in the country, regardless of political affiliation. Like some body said, if the GOP were doing this with Israeli children, it would be exactly the same. Power and tyranny are not beholden to any political power. We would be wise though, to see the different aspects of this struggle, and not be an all-or-nothing rhetoric regurgitator.
That said, something needs to be done, for the health and safety of both the incoming masses and those who are trying to keep some semblance of order there. We could be facing an epidemic of multiple diseases, long lost here. we need to pray for all parties, and do what our spirits lead us to do.
We have no Hobby Lobby….. So I don’t shop there. I might if there was one close. We don’t have much other than Joann’s and Michael’s (not a fan of either really)
As for pro life, it means just that to me. I am for life and against death. That means physically and spiritually. Until we teach the up coming generations to have respect for all life (theirs included) we will never overcome the problem of abortion. Until we teach people that all life, including the homeless, the people they don’t like, nerds, foreigners, the disabled, and anyone else they have some bias against, then we can not stop the killing of nuisance babies…… just saying.
#8 – the reason we have no leadership is as many have already noted, that we reward mediocrity and consider conformity to what is currently in vogue the height of intelligence and virtue… (maybe it’s a good thing as it makes it hard for a despot to rule) IMHO
oh! and there’s that principle of ignoring God and “doing what is right in our own eyes…” isn’t that supposed to bring perilous times?
Hey, I’m watching our old friend Corby Stephens being interviewed on the live feed.
wisdom comes with age, suffering, good mentoring, sacrifice, and devoted time to connect the dots. Political leaders, pundits, many pastors, and most run-of-the-mill citizens are not willing to pay the price to garner it. There is no crash course or short-cuts. There will always be a need for wise women and men…but less of a market for their perspectives.
“It does not look like CC pastors drive expensive cars – they looked dated and ordinary.”
sounds like honest men about God’s business… I truly do not think it is God’s will for pastors to drive new luxury or hot sports cars – even if the dealer is a friend and gives them one … dunno, tho … do I?
reading Dusty’s prayer list and seeing such a call for prayer … everyone I know, or know of, that is seriously wanting to walk in God’s will is taking hits and being tested now … I will sound a bit off my rocker in saying this, but the atmosphere feels demonic, like something is loosed that is circling and snarling – ready to devour… maybe it’s the heat and the strange wind that has been blowing hard up this valley lately
Happy birthday, 56 is only a couple months away myself. No DMV this year. Working on #10.
Great material. I for one am just sick and tired of all the politicalism (a word? probably not…who cares..this is my comment) and tribalism that saturates just about every issue and idea out there today. Even on the web on my favorite blogs, everybody has a side to take and there is no rational discussion anymore. Oh, you believe in THAT?!?! You must be one of those __________!!!! is the underlying theme in most comment sections.
BTW, happy birthday! I thought your number 7 referred to the ever-present long lines at most DMV’s.
#24 “Until we teach the up coming generations to have respect for all life (theirs included) we will never overcome the problem of abortion.” strangely (I think) what grabbed me was the word “respect”… do people respect anything or anyone anymore – unless it is a star of some aspect of show/sports business? we say we do, but somehow it isn’t the same thing that it was 50 years or so ago… or so it seems to me… off to watch “Ice Road Truckers”
God keep
Israeli refugees came all the way through central america and mexico to get here? How can we be sure they aren’t lying? … Better let them in just in case wouldn’t want to get that curse on us.
We have family that lives in Murietta where protests and blockades stopping buses with illegal immigrants took place today. It’s also where the CC conference center is located. One of those family members was here today stating it was those “good christians” behind what is going on. Some in Murietta refer to it as the bible belt I imagine because of the conference center. This family member has a very low opinion of believers and I chose not to enter into debate although I did correct what I saw as broad brushing of our faith. We’re hosting a huge family gathering soon and I’m hoping politics don’t come up as two brother-in-laws pretty much went berserk arguing. It would be ice if people could discuss things in a civil manner…
” It would be ice if people could discuss things in a civil manner…”
They can…but, Those people are called strangers, not family.
“If those silly kids on the border would have said their country of origination was Israel half the American church would be picketing to let them in…”
Oh man, this is so sad and yet so true…I can totally see Jesus telling impoverished children to go home because there is no room for them here. For a nation “founded” on Christian principles we’ve seemed to have forgotten that the greatest of these is love…but we’re to busy bitching about the moral decline of America to worry about actually loving people.